Cape Coral Waterfront Homes-What You Need to Know
So you want to be on the water here in SW Florida’s Water Wonderland, right? Well I’m gonna give you the 411 on what you need to do to make that happen and stay tuned until the end for a checklist about how to do that….let’s get started right now!
Hey everyone, I'm Sherry Puchacz with REMAX Realty Team here in Cape Coral Florida. If you are new here, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel because I make videos and talk about a lot of really cool stuff related to Cape Coral and if you're gonna be living here, I'm sure you want to know about it. You may have seen a previous video I did called "Where Should I Live in Cape Coral?"
Here we go….just to make sure we are all on the same page with waterfront property here in Cape Coral….we have three different types of waterfront property….
- Lakes and Ponds Some homes, mostly in gated communities are on “lakes” now I’m from up North….and what are called Lakes here we would call ponds….but here they are lakes...great views...not a house right in your backyard….pretty awesome really!!
- Freshwater Canals Some homes are on freshwater canals….we have about 300 miles of these freshwater canals. If you are looking for the most affordable waterfront property, freshwater canals are it. The freshwater and saltwater canals do not connect. If you are on freshwater….you will not be able to boat out to open water better known as the Gulf of Mexico. The freshwater canals are calm...you can enjoy canoeing, kayaking, fishing for bass and bluegill,turtle hunting and bird watching. You do not have to build a seawall on your property if you are on freshwater because the freshwater canals do not have “tidal movement”..., people always ask me can we swim in the canals….well swimming is not encouraged because there is well…..sealife and wildlife that lives in these freshwater canals...turtles and yes gators. We do have the Chain-of-Lakes which is a 30 mile freshwater system for cruising. Not all freshwater canals are connected to the Chain-of -Lakes so make sure to check out a map or call me and together we can figure out what kind of access a property has. You also don’t have to have a boat lift in a freshwater canal.
- Gulf Access Canals or Riverfront The rest of the waterfront homes are on saltwater canals or on the Caloosahatchee River. We have approximately 100 miles of saltwater canals. Now these properties are going to be the highest in value….just like a home on the beach would be more expensive. On saltwater canals you do have to have a seawall because they are affected by the tides...all canals are “no wake” speed to minimize the damage from waves as much as possible. On saltwater canals you should have a boat lift to minimize the growth of barnacles on your boat hull. Your motor will also need to be flushed with freshwater after each cruise and you should hose off the hull of your boat too. Moving on...the location of the canal has everything to do with the price of the property. The closer you are to getting out to open water...the higher the price...makes sense, right? So if your location is only 10 minutes to open water versus an hour and 10 minutes there will be a substantial difference in the price. In the SW section of Cape Coral, any property that is west of Chiquita Blvd on a gulf access canal, you will have to go through the Chiquita Lock to get out to open water. Most gulf access properties will have Indirect access to open water which means you will have to pass under at least one or more bridges to get out to open water. Again make sure to reference a map to check on the bridge height near any property you are interested in….approximate bridge heights are from 7 feet to 10.5 feet depending on the bridge and the tides. Most folks that have boats have a dock with a lift which may or may not have a canopy overy the boat to protect it from the sun, some folks have a tiki hut on their dock and regularly have “docktails” under their tiki huts!
So here is my checklist to use when you are thinking about buying a waterfront property here in Cape Coral aka Paradise!
I hope you have a better understanding of all the choices you have here and I hope I have answered some or all of your questions...if I have not, please feel free to give me a call, shoot me a text or email. You will probably enjoy watching one of my other videos like Moving to Cape Coral or Where you Should Live in Cape Coral. I’m Sunshine Sherry and I am always here to help and I can’t wait to work with you!
